Tuesday 14 July 2015

Paperback

Delighted to have received my copies of the anthology 'You're not alone' here in sunny France. I'm so proud to be sharing the pages with a group of talented writers who have contributed some excellent stories. You can buy the book on Amazon or click the link:
You're not alone
If it's not enough that all proceeds go to Macmillan nurses, well let me entice you with the story I contributed. It is very loosy based on my mother's story, but let me stress that she isn't one of the silver surfers from the book.


Never Too Old
By
 Angela Lockwood

Patricia Turner’s children had wanted her to do this years ago. They said they were worried for her, all alone in that big house. They didn’t realise that you can’t just sell a house that holds forty five years of memories and move to an apartment.
Forty five years of seeing the children grow up, thirty five years of blissful marriage with Frank, and in the last few years seeing the grandchildren enjoying the garden all over again. But Patricia had to admit that the garden Frank had always kept so pristine now looked a little over grown.
Then one morning, Patricia slipped on her bedside rug; fell and broke her hip. She lay there in agony for four hours. A concerned neighbour with a spare key let herself in, having noticed that at 11am, the curtains were still drawn.
 Once Patricia had recuperated from the hip replacement surgery, she told her children that she wanted to sell the house and move to the sheltered apartments on the other side of the village. They told her they were relieved she had taken the decision. They pledged their help in tidying up and packing. Carloads of superfluous goods were dispatched to children and grandchildren until all that remained was what she needed in the new apartment.
Patricia had moved into the apartment yesterday. Once all the furniture was put in place by the removal men, a small army of relatives started opening boxes and putting her things in the empty cupboards. She quickly exhausted herself by running after everyone, trying to direct her things to the right places. She gave up. Out of breath, she sank into a chair.
Let them be, Patricia, she told herself. They mean well and you’ve got the rest of your life to put it right.
      “This is a lovely view,” said Patricia to her new neighbour, Sheila Smyth.
The two were standing in the bright hallway outside their apartments, looking through the large glass windows at the village below. When Patricia stretched onto her toes, she could see the roof of her old house. She hadn’t moved far and even the new neighbour was someone she had known for years; their children had gone to school together.
      “I’ll take you down for coffee hour. Management puts some tea, coffee and biscuits on every weekday. Residents can go down if they want,” informed Sheila.
Patricia nodded her approval and the women set off down the long hallway.
      “It’s great you’ve moved here. I heard Mavis Barnstable might be coming too,” said Sheila.
      “That would be nice; she’s an excellent bridge player,” and then after some thought she added “Mind you, her husband Colin, likes his whiskey. Frank and I used to play the Barnstables, but by 10pm we would make our excuses, as his play didn’t make much sense anymore.”
“What, you haven’t heard?  Colin died a month ago from a heart attack,” said Sheila surprised.
Patricia found it hard to say something nice about Colin Barnstable; instead she just left a respectful silence. Then when it seemed appropriate she asked cheerfully, “Do they have a bridge club here?”
      “I think they meet every Friday in the recreation room,”
The two women stopped in front of the lift and Sheila pressed the call button. When the door opened there was already a man in a wheelchair inside.
      “Morning Mr Walker,” said Sheila cheerfully, “This is Patricia Turner, she just moved in.”
      “What a delight to have another lovely young lady in our residence!” he said, beaming.
      “Gosh, no one has called me a young lady for a very long time,” laughed Patricia.
      “Mr Walker is going to be ninety nine next week, at seventy five we’re just mere spring chickens to him,” explained Sheila.
Just then Patricia felt her bottom being pinched. She looked at Mr Walker in his wheelchair. He sported a grin stretching from ear to ear. To her relief the lift stopped and the door opened. The man in his chair left through reception and the two women headed to the recreation room.
      “I think that man just pinched my bottom,” whispered a shocked Patricia to her friend.
She roared with laughter, “Ninety nine years old, in a wheelchair, but he is still a randy bugger.”

      They entered the recreation room and found about a dozen residents already there. Most of the people living at Lower Hallerington sheltered housing were female, and Patricia only spotted two men in the room. Sheila first introduced her to the men.
“This is George Willoughby,” she said to a bald-headed heavy set man,“ did you not work at British Gas, George?”
“I did indeed,” he answered, shaking Patricia’s hand.
“So did my husband. You might have known him - Frank Turner?”
“Not very well as he was in a different department, but yes I’ve heard of him. Delighted to have you with us Mrs. Turner.”
Then Sheila introduced a thin grey-haired man as Victor Lambert. Patricia and Victor shook hands and they moved on to the women in the room. Most of them, she already knew from church or via her children’s old school. After the introductions were done, she noticed that the men were having an argument and she leaned in to listen.
      “I’ll tell you it was a fellow called Corleone,” George argued.
      “I’m not sure that was the fellow that played Fredo in The Godfather,” replied Victor doubtfully.
      “It was! Donald Corleone. I think he even got an Oscar,” said the bald one with certainty.
Victor shook his head sadly. “Maybe it was. It frightens me how forgetful I am these days. I used to know all the Hollywood actors.”
      “Well, my mind is as sharp as an eighteen-year-old’s,” stated George proudly and without a shred of sympathy for the other man.
Patricia did sympathise with Victor. Altzheimers was the disease that she was most afraid of. Every time she caught herself forgetting something, she would smile wryly;
 I’ll be able to hide my own Easter eggs soon!
Patricia turned her attention to the women. One particular lady had caught her eye because she was wearing bright red nail varnish and her cheeks glowed with pink blush. Sheila noticed her staring.
“Betty here is all dolled up for her fancy man,” she explained.
Grey-haired pensioner Betty, giggled like a little schoolgirl.
      “Paul is taking me dancing later at the town hall,” she said bashfully.
      “Well done you, going dancing! I couldn’t imagine doing that with my replacement hip,” said Patricia, full of admiration.
      “That shouldn’t stop you, dear. I just had my second one done last December,” retorted Betty cheerfully.
      “How about your fella, Harriet?” said Betty turning to the woman on her left.
      “We’re meeting up this Thursday,” replied Harriet, smirking like a Cheshire cat.
      “Harriet met Nigel on the internet,” explained Sheila, with a wink.
      “Aren’t you afraid to meet a complete stranger you met online?” asked Patricia.
Harriet smiled, “I hardly think that the man who told me all about the heartbreak of losing his wife to cancer, is going to rape and kill me.”
This isn’t what I expected. Patricia began to think in the lift, on her way back upstairs to her flat. She had expected talk about grandchildren and knitting patterns, not Skype, online dating, which Scholl shoes are best for dancing, and which of the men in their sheltered housing complex were single and not going senile. She hadn’t realised how far from the modern world she had become removed, rattling about alone in her big house. She felt happier than she had done in a long time.
When she got in, she phoned her son. She asked him if he had a spare computer; an old one the grandchildren no longer needed.
      “I thought you didn’t want any of those ‘contraptions’?” He said in surprise.
      “Absolutely everyone is on the internet now, I’m not just some grandmother that knits socks all day,” said Patricia expertly.
She was still puzzled However, as to how you could send letters through a computer.
      “I hope you know what you’re doing,” said her son concerned, “promise me you won’t do any online shopping and give people your bank details.”
      “I won’t and my friend Sheila has offered to help me with Skype. Apparently you can then phone the entire world for free,” explained Patricia innocently, her mind buzzing with the possibilities of the Internet.
      Her son promised he would set her up with a computer and an Internet provider.

She sat back in her chair after she ended the call and looked out of her living room window. From the fourth floor, she could just see the river and some fields with horses behind the trees. The garden in front of the flats was well tended and Patricia thought with relief that she no longer had to do the gardening herself. So far, she had not regretted moving in there. She would get a computer set up next and try and become, one of those…oh what did they call it downstairs? Oh yes  a silver surfer.
 She decided it was time to take the next step and to move on from all the wonderful memories her husband Frank had given her; time to make some new ones.



Thursday 9 July 2015

Darkly Wood by Max Power

As the Anthology is coming out on Kindle Tomorrow I thought I celebrate by posting a review of one of it's contributors; Max Power. You can already order your paperback copy. Here is the link to Max Powers book and it's 5 star review:

Darkly Wood by Max Power


Near the village of Cranby, you can find an imposing forest named Darkly Wood. Local stories retold from generation to generation speak of terrible things that have happened in this place, long before it was even known as Darkly Wood. The book starts with the story of Lord Terrence Darkly, who’s noble family the wood is named after and the tragic fate of his fiancee.
The book is a cleverly crafted patchwork of folkloric horror stories, a romance and a supernatural thriller. Weaving cameos of characters that were affected by Darkly wood, with the contemporary tale of Daisy and Benjamin and their budding teenage love story.
I must admit that I wasn’t immediately gripped by the start of the book, which just hinted at something evil in the woods, but then I was gripped by the story of Daisy, the young girl that moves to Cranby with her recently divorced mother. Soon she experiences a few spooky events and also finds a book in her new house named ‘Tales of Darkly Wood by J.S. Toner’. She also meets a boy named Benjamin who she feels very attracted to.
What is unusual about this book is the way it is narrated. We have three points of view from the writer, the initial scene setting that tells us about the wood and the village. Then the story of Daisy and Benjamin and their fateful entry into Darkly wood, which is interspersed with extracts from the Tales of Darkly Wood. Even though I found the interruptions to Daisy’s nail-biting story at times frustrating as I wanted to know what happened next, the individual tales are all strong. I think my favourite was the one about the man that fooled a whole village into thinking that he was a smoker. Max Power does know how to spin a good yarn.
I felt for the characters of Daisy and Benjamin; just as they are discovering their young love, they are put through the most testing of ordeals. Daisy grows from a normal impulsive teenager into a young woman that can muster up incredible courage. Her bravery comes from the love she is feeling for Benjamin.
I was in two minds at first about this book, but as I continued reading through the cracking second part and awesome finish, I made up mind and decided that Darkly Wood deserves 5 stars.

Sunday 28 June 2015

Things Fall Apart by Tracy Black

This book brought back many memories for me as I moved to Edinburgh in 1991, just a few years after the year the story is set in. Edinburgh at that time was the drug capital of Europe and it was a rude awakening for me to discover that the beautiful city I had moved to had such a seedy underbelly. I quickly learned to recognise a junky. Working in the jewellery trade, a runny nose, glassy eyes and an unkempt appearance made us extra alert. It should have made Mandy, the mother in the book alert too, but she didn’t realise her two eldest were using drugs until one ended up in hospital to have her stomach pumped. Her son was by this time a frequent Heroine user. A lot of people might be baffled by her naivity, but I think Edinburgh’s drug and AIDS problem got so out of hand because people in 1986 were not as knowledgeable as we are today. What I found harder to believe was the fact that Mandy couldn’t see that her youngest son was having problems of a different kind. Her neglect of him, led him to act out by shoplifting. She should have realised that he needed her too and that his problem was easier to fix than the drug use of the other two. I thought the book was well written, and even though the subject matter was harrowing at times I had no hesitation in reading on. I can’t say that stories like this don’t happen anymore in Edinburgh, but a lot of the areas in the book have improved, especially The Shore. In the book it is an area where street walkers ply their trade. These days it’s full of trendy bars and expensive restaurants. Read Train Spotting and this book as it will give you a good insight into Edinburgh of the 80’s and 90’s, but don’t let it put you off visiting this beautiful town.

Facebook/Twitter versus Advertising part 2

The Verdict: Advertising does work and I think it was value for money. I managed to give 175 copies away so it doesn't beat Facebook and Twitter. However the previous give away was run over 2 days. On day 1; I gave away 150 Copies and day 2; 56 copies. I also used a post boost on facebook that was paid for. This does put advertising in a better light especially as it was cheaper than facebook. The site I used was www.goodkindles.net and cost me $13.95
Probably the next giveaway I'll do will include goodkindles and the choosybook worm which was free this time but I don't think they ran the add as the free option is not always available on the day. They have only 2 free spots a day and I couldn't see mine there. Their paid option is $18 and I will consider this for the next time.
I now have a lot more followers on Twitter and Facebook so that option I would certainly use again, but not a paid boost.

Friday 26 June 2015

Facebook/Twitter versus Advertising

My recent flurry of activity is paying off. I know have over a 100 followers to my Language in the blood page and about 350 Twitter followers. The blog itself had over 5000 hits. Although this has raised my public profile, sales are still a bit thin on the ground. I decided to spend a little more on advertising. Not much, just about 14Euro's but I had heard good things about the two sites I'm using. Especially choosybookworm.com got rave reviews.
Tomorrow the 27th I'm giving my book Language in the Blood away FREE.
The giveaway is very low key and I won't tweet it and just mention this blogpost on Facebook, as I want to get a clear picture of how well advertising works. Advertising has a 199 free copies to beat!

Wednesday 24 June 2015

Trout Fishing for Bodies by Robert K Swisher Jr

This book I've bought myself as a wee treat. I liked the first book in the series and when I finished it I bought the follow up. I do like Robert K Swisher's easy style. I also like when you can really tell where an author is from and with Robert you can taste America. Book 2 didn't disappoint and gets a deserved 5 star.
Trout Fishing for Bodies by Robert K Swisher Jr


I was a big fan after reading the first book in the Bob Roosevelt series; A Bucket Full of Lies, so I looked forward to reading the second book. I wasn’t disappointed; it’s as good as the first if not better. Even though this is book 2 in the series, you won’t be lost if you read this one first.
After a trying case where Bob Roosevelt got himself in a lot of trouble and danger, he and his trusted Volkswagen beetle head for Colorado. He hopes to find some calm, fishing for trout in the Colorado hills. What he catches is more than he bargained for. His obnoxious guardian angel, warns him to get out of dodge but Bob is determined to solve this murder. This book has a fine cast of characters that get up to all sorts of shenanigans. Barbara, the victim had been turning the heads of some local married men and there is no shortage of suspects. Bob and I were none the wiser as to who did the murder until near the very end. Unlike Bob, I did not get shot at while we were trying to figure this crime out.  
Again, the wise cracking between Bob and his guardian angel is great fun, but I have to wonder by now why Bob doesn’t listen to his angel a little more as he seems to be on the money most of the time with his warnings. I suppose if I had a lecherous, hateful monk whispering things in my ear, I might just do the opposite to spite him. It certainly adds entertainment for us, the reader.
Clever, witty and entertaining. Definitely not a weak second. If you liked A bucket Full of Lies, you will love this.